By Tom Fairless
BRUSSELS--European Union regulators have granted Google Inc.
more time to respond to charges that the U.S. search giant skews
search results to favor its own comparison-shopping service.
The European Commission, the bloc's top antitrust regulator,
said in a statement that it had "agreed to extend Google's deadline
to respond" to the EU's allegations after the company requested the
extension to review the documents in the case file. The new
deadline is Aug. 17.
A spokesman for Google said that the company had requested
"additional time to review the documents they've provided us."
The EU accused Google in mid-April of violating the bloc's laws
and gave the company ten weeks to respond to the allegations,
escalating a five-year investigation. Those ten weeks elapsed last
week, but the EU's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said the
clock was still running for Google because the company hadn't
immediately been granted access to the case file.
The commission frequently grants extensions in major antitrust
cases, to ensure that companies are given ample opportunity to
defend themselves. That helps avoid legal hurdles if the regulator
needs to defend its judgment before the EU's appeals courts in
Luxembourg.
"In line with normal practice, the Commission analysed the
reasons for the request and granted an extension allowing Google to
fully exercise its rights of defence," the regulator said on
Monday.
Google can also request a hearing in front of the commission to
better explain its case.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
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